It took one question about impeaching the defense secretary for President Donald Trump to start handing out the word “loser” in the White House briefing room.
Trump turned up unannounced in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room on Monday, Nov. 9, 2026, with UFC CEO Dana White beside him, less than a week after the midterm rout that handed Democrats control of Congress. CNN chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins asked whether he would stand behind Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth if the House impeached him. He said he would, claiming the Pentagon chief “won two wars” — seemingly pointing to the Venezuela strike and the ongoing war with Iran.
Collins pressed, telling the president that Rep. Thomas Massie, the outgoing Kentucky Republican, had accused Hegseth of carrying out an illegal act.
“Massie’s a loser, just like you’re a loser at CNN, just like your ratings are a loser,” Trump said. “Massie is a loser, stone cold loser.”
The Impeachment Push Behind the Question
Massie had introduced eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth in the House that same day. The charges say the defense secretary went to war in breach of the War Powers Resolution, disregarded civilian-protection laws, ordered extrajudicial killings, cracked down on free speech, seized a sovereign leader and ran an unlawful war in Yemen. The allegations have not been adjudicated.
Hegseth, 46, has a net approval rating of -29 points. From the podium, Trump turned the question around on the wars that came before, asking reporters why no one had moved to impeach the men who ran Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Tapper Answers Back on ‘The Lead’
CNN anchor Jake Tapper played the exchange on Monday’s episode of “The Lead” and delivered his own verdict.
“Kind of incredible to hear President Trump, after last Tuesday’s results, calling anyone else a loser,” Tapper told viewers. He also wrote on X that only one person in the exchange had just watched voters reject his conduct, his hand-picked candidates and his policies in state after state — including Texas, Kansas, Iowa, Ohio and Georgia — and that it was not Collins.
Collins, who is from Alabama, posted a clip of the clash on social media with a caption noting that the president had told her he would back Hegseth even if he were impeached. Commenters praised her for staying unfazed while being berated on live television.
She has been here before. Trump has admonished her for not smiling enough, described her as a “very average person” in an interview with Time ahead of the midterms and called her a “SLEAZEBAG” on Truth Social. Other female journalists have drawn similar fire: he blasted Washington Post reporter Natalie Allison over questions about his deportation strategy, told Bloomberg reporter Catherine Lucey “quiet, piggy!” when she raised the Epstein files and called “60 Minutes” correspondent Norah O’Donnell a “disgrace” for asking about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
Zero Political Aspirations at the Podium
Collins got another answer out of the briefing before the blowup. She asked White whether he had told the president no to the press secretary job. White replied that he does not tell the president no to anything, that he never said no, and that every media outlet had been calling him while he waited for Trump to speak first.
Trump then explained where the offer came from. The White House was having a very bad press day, he said, and White’s name came to him; he posted it, the story was written as if he meant it, and White was coming by anyway. He said he was “sort of kidding.” His weekend Truth Social post had requested that White bring along a staff of fighters — Islam Makhachev, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Justin Gaethje, Daniel Cormier, Amanda Nunes and Kayla Harris — to take on what he called the Lunatic Left.
“I have zero political aspirations,” White said.
The briefing ran well past the UFC detour. Trump, 80, gave an update on the Iran war after meeting Qatari officials earlier in the day, called the midterm result ridiculous and railed about the stock market sliding after the vote, in which Democrats flipped traditional Republican strongholds including Texas, Kansas and South Carolina. He repeated that he favors a posthumous pardon for baseball great Pete Rose. He defended his decision to install Stephen Miller as chief of staff, replacing the ousted Susie Wiles. And he defended Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, now under investigation over an affair with an alleged Chinese spy, saying he had called to check on him and that Huang told him he had no idea the person was a spy.
Massie’s resolution went nowhere. The House voted 211-204 on Tuesday, Nov. 10, to refer the articles to committee, effectively ending the impeachment push. Hegseth faced reporters at the Pentagon earlier that day, where security warned journalists they would be physically removed if they did not act professionally. Asked whether shouting a question would count, the agent gave no answer.
Sen. Ted Cruz had predicted on election night that the House would impeach Hegseth during the lame-duck session.
